One day in the mid-1960s, while walkingthroughNewYork’sCentral Parkandchattingabout the script for their future musical, GeromeRagni andJamesRadocameacross agroupof hippies.These long-haired, informallytrained, youngstersweresprawledon the lawn, surroundedbybannersopposing thewar inVietnam.Policeo cersalsocame, with the intention of dispersing them, but thegroupstrippednaked.The shockedpolicemen recoiled, but it was this scene that determined the future of theatre, and then later also cinematography. Ragni and Rado developedHair forBroadwayandthescene they’dwitnessed to the chords of the song “FleshFailures ”.Thatwason29th April 1968. A year later, the Belgrade show of the same name, the rst in a foreign language worldwide, and only the third anywhere, after Broadway and the West End, experienced a genuine boom in Yugoslavia. Nakedbodieshadneverpreviouslybeenseen on theatre stages – not only in Yugoslavia, but also globally – while its libretto was no less important to Hair’s popularity: the story of a rebellious generation seeking a way out of the ludicrousness of war and petty bourgeoismentality. And themusicwas also great, so even todaywe still sing“Let the Sunshine In”or“AgeofAquarius”.Authenticity was provided by nudists, who were engaged en masse in our theatre for the rst time,whileeverythingwasgivena toughof glamour by Vladislav Lalicki’s outstanding poster, basedonthemodel of theAmerican version, but perhaps evenmore e ective. Also contributing signi cantly to the previouslyunheardofcelebrationof thestory of free love instead of warfare was Miloš Forman’s 1979 lmadaptation of Hair, with TreatWilliams intheroleofBerger, thetribe’s mainman, and JohnSavageportraying the newly-recruited Claude Hooper Bukowski, lledwithdoubts about hismilitary calling. Thepublicwassplit, at least thefemalepublic, between fans of the rst, better-looking dudeandcompletelyinnocentvictimofpolitics,andthesecond,whoseplaceaboardthe planeBergertookbyaccidentandwas own to the front linewhileattempting toenable Claude tohave his last opportunity for love prior toheadingo towar.Manyof thegirls identi ed with Sheila (Beverly D’Angelo), a highsocietygirl that bothmenwere in love with, and they were all in tears when it becameclear, tothesoundsof fantasticmusic, thatBergerwasboardingaplanethatwould only bring him back dead. The message of boththe lmandtheplaywasnevertheless optimistic – freedom and love will prevail. Thecredit forbringingtolifeinBelgrade thatwhichhadalreadybeenseenbyAmericans on Broadway in 1968 belongs to late director Mira Trailović and dramatist Jovan Ćirilov, who watched the show at the BiltmoreTheatreanddecidedtorecreateitatAtelje212. In truth, Ćirilovwasdoubtful of the possibilityof ndingenoughmusical actors here, but Mira was certain of success. And indeed, preparations for the Belgrade premierehadalreadybegunby the start of the nextyear.TrailovićandĆirilov, togetherwith pianist SašaRadojčićandco-director Zoran Ratković,begantouringdiscothequestosee fromthesidelineswhodancedthebest, but alsolookedthebest.ThemythofHairhadby thenalready spreadgreatly across the then Non-AlignedYugoslavia, ensuringthoseselected were more than willing to say yes. A call for auditions was also published in newspapers and responded to by Jugoslav Vlahović, who would later become a professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade and an illustrator of weekly news magazine NIN. “I had then just graduated, was dealing with music and caricatures in an amateur capacity, and was eager for artistic action,”says Vlahović. Hairwasn’tunknowntohimeither, asa regularreaderofNME,whichhadpublisheda still fromthe nal sceneof theplay.Ascreening of the play on television reminded him of the parties then happening in Belgrade. He joinedtheensemble,whichchangedhis life, or at least enriched his youth. Not one Beogradska deca cveća u akciji. Posle studentskih demonstracija 1968. „demonstracije“ na sceni 1969. Belgrade flower-power children in action. After the student demonstrations of 1968, “demonstrations” were on stage in 1969
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